February 19, 2025
STATEMENT FROM ASSEMBLYMAN PHIL PALMESANO ON THE SAFETY AND STAFFING CRISIS AT NEW YORK’S CORRECTIONAL FACILITIES
(Editors Note: Palmesano is The #2 Man In The State Assembly GOP, And Is On The NYS Corrections Committee For THe Assembly)
“The situation happening at our correctional facilities across the state is no doubt a reflection of the worsening and dangerous working conditions at our state correctional facilities. Gov. Hochul now indicating she wants to call in the National Guard only reinforces this safety crisis. The combination of prison closures, a massive staffing shortage and policies that make correctional officers’ (COs) jobs more difficult have created a powder keg environment inside state prisons. We are seeing record highs of inmate-on-staff and inmate-on-inmate assaults (up 76% and 169% respectively) since the implementation of the dangerous HALT Act three years ago. More COs are retiring and resigning each year than are coming in. Currently, there are more than 2,200 CO vacancies. This is unacceptable, dangerous and unsustainable and must be addressed now.
“Pay and benefits for our COs need to be increased, including recruitment and retention bonuses. The “death gamble” legislation, which ensures earned pensions of COs are passed along to family members if they pass away while still employed, has been vetoed twice by the governor. The HALT Act needs to be fully repealed. We’re at a tipping point and the path we’ve been on clearly hasn’t worked.”
FROM CONGRESSWOMAN CLAUDIA TENNEY:
“For years, Correctional Officers (COs) have raised serious concerns about unsafe working conditions caused by severe staffing shortages and pro-criminal policies pushed by Governor Kathy Hochul and Albany Democrats. Assaults on COs have nearly doubled, and they are routinely forced to work double and even triple shifts,” said Congresswoman Tenney.
“Instead of addressing these issues and working to make these essential jobs safer, Governor Hochul and Acting DOCCS Commissioner Daniel Martuscello recently instructed prison superintendents to treat just 70% of staffing capacity as “full staffing.”
“Now, as COs are advocating for better working conditions, Kathy Hochul and Commissioner Martuscello are holding the COs who decided to go to work hostage and forcing inmates into a 24-hour lockdown. This situation is at a boiling point, and sending in the National Guard will only make this situation more dangerous. Our state’s National Guardsmen are some of the best soldiers our country has to offer but placing them in this situation is misguided and dangerous. Sending in the National Guard will only put more lives at risk.
“These dangerous working conditions are only set to get worse. Governor Hochul and Commissioner Martuscello must treat COs with the respect they deserve and recognize them as the essential workers they are. I stand with our courageous correctional officers.”
FROM SENATOR TOM O’MARA:
“New York State’s correctional system is clearly in crisis. It has been continually building and growing worse, as many of us have warned, over the past decade of rapid prison closures, increasingly dangerous and demanding working conditions inside prisons, drastic workforce reductions, and the enactment of the HALT Act and other failed policies out of Albany. We need a comprehensive overhaul of safety and security within the system, beginning with the immediate repeal of HALT, for correctional officers, staff and inmates alike, and it needs to be made a priority. The recent, fatal beating of Robert Brooks at the Marcy Correctional Facility in Onondaga County was appalling and disgusting, and it must and will be dealt with through our justice system. What took place there in no way represents the conduct of the vast majority of correctional officers and staff within the Elmira Correctional Facility and facilities throughout the state where officers and staff go to work every day to undertake the duties and responsibilities they’re charged with diligently, professionally, and respectfully. Governor Hochul and the Democrat-led State Legislature must also, finally, pay serious and meaningful attention to the concerns that have been raised, for years now, by the officers and staff concerned for their personal safety, the overall security of their facilities, and the future of their families and loved ones.”
